Baby Steps  Interstitial Epilogue 1
by BandraK
Summary: "You Have To Crawl Before You Can Walk"  A short and semi-sweet meet up at the McKinley High Halloween Ball set between Book 1 -"Some Frienemy Advice" and Book 2 - "Why" of the "Baby Steps" series. Faberry friendship with bonus Brittana


**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Originally Posted: Feb 9th, 2012

Just a few quick thing folks and then you can get to the story. Timeline wise, this is set between the end of "Some Frienemy Advice" and the start of "Why". If you had questions after reading SFA and this still doesn't answer them, hopefully the "Why" re-write will but if you can't wait, send 'em in and I'll do my best to either answer them directly or make sure they get answered in "Why"

Speaking of, now that this is up done and posted, I'm hoping to have enough of a backlog of the "Why" re-write done by the end of the month that I can start posting that too. So if you like "Why" as it is, you'd best get to downloading it as it won't be like that much longer.

And lastly, since "Why" is going to be my primary focus for the time being, but because I can't stop my brain from flights of fancy, I will be posting bits and piece of another Glee based story (tentatively titled "A Touch Of Starlight") over on my Tumblr account (see my profile page for the link) as and when they're finished so for those of you interested, now you know. At some point I hope to get around to posting AToS on here as well but "Why" and the still untitled third book in the "Baby Steps" series are going to have priority for the foreseeable future.

Disclaimer Time, Disclaimer Time!

Glee, the characters of Glee along with associated events, locations and miscellaneous extras are not mine. They belong to the fine folks at Fox and I have no affiliation with Fox beyond being a fan (of some) of their programming. My use of the characters, locations, events and miscellaneous extras of Glee are in no way authorized by Fox and I make no income at all from these works. They are intended only as a sign of appreciation and are presented for public consumption only to spread the Gleek love.

Enjoy :D

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><p><strong>Baby Steps - Interstitial Epilogue 1 <strong>

"_**You Have To Crawl Before You Can Walk"**_

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><p>October 30th, 2010 (Beth +144)<p>

_Mckinley High, Gymnasium, 9:32pm_

Santana elbowed her way through the last of the students in her way and shot her favourite blonde a extra large smile. "Here you go, gorgeous." She said, her voice raised to make itself heard over the din of music and conversations that filled the already uncomfortably warm air. She handed Brit one of the two red plastic cups in her hands.

"Thanks." Brit took a quick pull on the straw sticking out of her cup before she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek. She leaned in a little closer, her fingers playing with the straw as she brought her lips to Santana's ear. "Yummy. Just like you."

"Not half as yummy as you, B." Santana replied, then forced herself to take a step back. "I don't know how you're not causing a riot in that outfit."

Brit glanced down at her mid thigh length, white dress, the base of her not-so-chaste Angel costume. "Aww, San. You say the sweetest things." The cheerio hooked her fingers behind the blood red bow pinned by a skull and cross bones brooch to the front of Santana's definitely naughty devil costume, and pulled her close. "You look pretty hot yourself. Me gusta."

A sensual smirk pulled at Santana's lips as she looked into her girlfriend's blue eyes. And people actually thought Brit was the innocent one.

The blonde looked over San's shoulder. "Ohh, look. It's Rachel." Her cherry painted lips curled into grin. "Me gusta."

"What?" Santana asked, confusion wiping the smirked clean off her face by the time she turned to follow her girlfriend's gaze.

"Brittany, Santana." Rachel greeted the couple with a little wave.

"Berry." San returned, slipping her arm around Brittany's waist as she spoke.

"You look really hot, Rachel." Brittany said.

"Thank you," the brunette said, dropping her eyes to her costume as she smoothed the surprisingly short blue gingham dress down over her thighs. "I-"

"Wha?" Rachel looked up as Brittany's cry of protest interrupted her, and found the blonde trying to reclaim her cup from Santana who was sniffing at the contents suspiciously."

"San, I was drinking that."

"Uh-huh, that's what has me worried." Santana countered before she took a cautious sip. Her dark brown eyes met Rachel's lighter ones as she swished the liquid around in her mouth. "Hmph." She said as she handed the cup back to Brittany who quickly held it as far from the latina as she could while still reaching the straw."

"Yes... well-" Rachel

"OhMyGod!" Brit cried, once more cutting Rachel off. "That is so cute. Why didn't you tell me you and Quinn were costume buddies?"

"What?" the two dark haired girls asked as they followed Brittany's pointed finger.

"Quinn?"

"Rachel?"

"What the hell, Q?"

"Santana?" The back of a head of wild blond hair popped up from behind a vampire, a witch, a zombie, and a cow streamed between them on the way to the refreshments table.

"Over here, Q"

"Brit?" Tufts of gold popped back into the waiting trio's sight, this time along with the top half of Quinn's face and a moment later the cheerio captain forced her way through to them.

"Quinn?" Rachel asked again as she took in the costume her friend was wearing. "How did you know I was coming as Dorothy?"

"I didn't."

"Really?" A skeptic Santana asked. "You just happened to show up in a cowardly lion outfit? And if Hudson shows up as a scarecrow, You gonna tell me that's coincidence too?"

Quinn held Rachel's gaze for a heart beat before looking away. "I'm not the cowardly lion."

"Awww."

Rachel's lips twitched in response to Brittany's lament. "If I may ask, what are you dressed as?"

"I'm... I'm the li*mummble*"

"What" All three girls asked.

"I-" She looked down at her 'paws' and sighed. "I'm the Lion Quinn. Okay?, Like the lion king, only... me."

"That's cute too." Brit said. "I like the nose the best. It's cute."

Rachel noticed Santana's lips move, but whatever the latina grumbled was drowned out by background noise. "I never knew you were a Disney fan." Rachel said as she turned her attention back to Quinn in time to catch the other girl self consciously dab at the brown face paint reshaping the tip of her nose for a more feline appearance.

"I'm not." Quinn replied as she dropped her hand back to her side.

"C'mon San, I want to dance." Brit said, then took away Santana's drink and pressed both plastic cups into Quinn's hands before pulling her girlfriend towards the middle of the gymnasium-turned-dance hall.

"You look nice/I almost didn't come tonight"

"What? Why not?/Thank you, Quinn."

Rachel gave Quinn a half smile. "I heard a rumour that there's a run of strep throat going around town. With Sectionals so close, I wasn't sure if I should risk the additional exposure that spending the evening in close quarters with so many other people would bring."

"Ah." Quinn replied. Her gaze shifting towards Will Schuester turned DJ in his top hat and tails. No doubt playing Fred Astaire for a certain "Ginger" Rogers née Emma Pillsbury. "So what made you decide the risk was worth it?"

"I wanted to see my friends."

Quinn's tongue darted across her lower lip. "Oh." It was so obvious the pair of them belonged together, everyone could see it. They needed to stop dancing around each other and just get together already.

A nudge from Rachel's elbow broke Quinn from her thoughts and the blonde turned to face the brunette.

Rachel flashed the cheerio captain a wide grin. "I said, 'Hello fr-"

"Why did no one tell me we were doing Wizard of Oz?" Kurt's voice asked from behind the two teen girls.

"Kurt, hello." Rachel warmly greeted the teen boy as as turned to face him.

"Kurt." Quinn said, her tone the namesake of her speech.

"Rachel," Kurt smiled. "Quinn," He smiled less. Turning back to Rachel, he asked, "So why wasn't I included on the theme costumes? Afraid I'd make a better Dorothy than you?"

The two girls laughed, one in amusement, the other derisively.

"We're not a theme, Kurt." Rachel explained. "As you correctly identified, I am dressed as Dorothy," Rachel turned slightly towards Quinn as she swept a hand down the length of her costume, ", but Quinn," The brunette tried to hide her grin as she motioned towards the blonde by her side, "is here as 'The Lion Quinn'; which I thought was some very clever word play on her part and-"

"Not that theres any reason we couldn't wear matching costumes."

Quinn's interruption earned her a raised eyebrow from Kurt and an appraising look from Rachel.

"Don't mind her, Kurt." Rachel said as she turned to the other teen. "She's just in character. Her roar is worse than her bite."

"I'll take your word for it." Kurt said as he glanced between the pair. "And now that we've sorted that out, I'm going to go get myself something to drink. You girls have fun."

"You too." Said Rachel before she turned to Quinn with a look the blonde couldn't decipher.

"...What?"

"I was about to ask you something similar."

"Why?"

"Not exactly." Rachel held up her hand before Quinn could voice the confusion behind her furrowed brow. "Please, let me. As much as I appreciate your defence of our friendship," this time, Rachel could do nothing to hide her smile, "I think you may have been a little too... abrupt... in doing so."

"Oh really?" Quinn asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

Rachel brushed her hair back behind her ears. "Yes. Kurt made a simple inquiry into the seemingly matching nature of our costumes and your response, while touching, was also disproportionally aggressive."

"Wha-"

"Please, let me finish. I'm not trying to condemn your actions Quinn, as I've said, I appreciate the sentiment behind them, but defending our friendship like it's something you're worried other people will judge you for isn't much better than not defending it at all." Rachel's hand shifted towards Quinn's, paused, then returned to her side. "I know I'm not the most popular of people, even amongst our group, and I understand why someone of your social stature could have issues with 'outing' our relationship, but if we're going to have a relationship, Quinn, you have to understand that while I don't expect you to shout it from rooftops, I don't want to be your dirty little secret either."

"...Are you done?"

Rachel tucked her hair back behind her ears again and nodded. "Yes, I believe I-"

"Good, because that means it's my turn. You're not my 'dirty little secret' Rachel, I don't care who knows we're friends." Quinn took Rachel's hand in hers. "And I'm sorry if I gave you that impression. If it makes you feel any better, I'll apologize to Kurt."

Rachel looked up from their joined hands. "No," she said, and gave Quinn's palm a gentle squeeze, "I'm sure he knows you didn't mean anything by it."

Quinn glanced down at their intertwined fingers. "... We shou-"

*Clank Clang Clonk*

Both girls released their grip as the turned towards the metallic cacophony coming their way.

"Hey, Guys. Could one of you help me with this thing?"

"Finn?"

"Yeah."

The blonde and brunette exchanged a quick glance, then looked back at the armour clad knight standing in front of them.

"What's the problem?" Quinn asked as she approached Finn.

"The mask thing-y part is stuck."

"I-" Quinn looked over at a shoulder shaking Rachel.

"I'm sorry." The broadway hopeful said as she struggled to get her laughter under control. "It's just... 'oil can'."

"What?" Finn's question went unanswered as Rachel dissolved into another fit of giggles. He turned toward the blonde by his side, at least so much as his costume allowed him to. "Quinn?"

The cheerleader gave a hard shake of her head before she too burst into laughter.

"Someone want to tell me what's so funny?"

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><p>"San?"<p>

"Mmhmm?" Santana hummed softly, depending more on their closeness as they danced than her volume to carry the sound to Brittany's ears.

"When did you know you loved me?" Brittany lifted her head from her girlfriend's shoulder as Santana pulled back to look at her.

The dark haired girl tilted her head to the side as she held the blonde's gaze. "What brought this on?"

Brit shrugged as she linked her hands together behind Santana's neck. "I wanna know."

Santana nodded as they continued to dance. "Okay, you want the long answer or the short answer?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Not really?"

"Than both."

San turned her head to the side and kissed Brit's forearm. "Both it is. Short answer, the day we met."

"San -"

"It's true. That's the day I fell in love with you."

Brit grinned before leaning in to press a quick kiss against the other girl's scarlet painted lips. "That's sweet. But I asked when did you know you loved me, not when it happened."

"That's why it's the short answer." Santana replied before stealing another kiss.

"So what's the long answer?

"Longer than it should have."

"San -"

"It's true too."

Brit pouted. "Stop avoiding the question."

"I'm not avoiding, B. It's just not an easy answer to give."

"You want to know when I knew I was in love with you?"

After a few seconds, Santana nodded.

"The day we met."

"Oh no you didn't." Santana said around her smile. "You did not just say the exact same thing you called me on."

"It's true." Brittany returned the other girl's grin.

"So was mine."

"Nuh-uh." the blonde shook her head, setting the little wire halo hanging over her to wobble. "I knew I loved you from the day we met. You said you only fell in love with me that day, not that you knew it."

San opened her mouth to protest, then sighed. "Fair enough, B."

"Good... So?"

"So?"

"So when did you know you loved me?"

A laugh shook Santana's shoulders. "You're incorrigible, you know that?"

"Like cardboard?"

"No, B. Better than cardboard."

"Okay." Brittany rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulder again. "Now answer the question."

San smiled to herself. "As you wish." She paused to take a breath, her smile growing wider as she scent of Brit's shampoo filled her senses, then leaned in to whisper into Brittany's ear. "I knew I loved you the same day I told you sex wasn't dating. The minute I told you that, I knew I was lying. To you, to me, to both of us, and it scared me how much I loved you, that's why it took me so long to say it out loud and I am so sorry for that. That's when I knew, B. I knew I was in love with you from that day till this one and I will love you from this one until the end of time."

Brit nuzzled her nose against Santana's neck, her eyes locked on the sight of Quinn and Rachel struggling with Finn's recalcitrant helmet. "Best answer ever."


End file.
